


We're Friends!

by thatdragonchic



Series: Zeus Foundation + Sierra November (Macgyver 2016) [2]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Op gone wrong, idk what this is, sierra november saves zeus, tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 01:39:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17992397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdragonchic/pseuds/thatdragonchic
Summary: Thomas finds himself scrambling to make sure that Jasper Sheriff is okay, and yeah okay, they might be friends when it's all over.





	We're Friends!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [altschmerzes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/altschmerzes/gifts).



> Ta daaa for my lovely Gavriella  
> I apologize in advance for the Trash that this is oops

Thomas’ heart was beating rapidly as Jasper loses consciousness in his arms. The threat was eliminated, but it left its mark on the entire Zeus team, Jasper in particular whose breath was rapidly slowing, his blood pouring out of him. He recalls a moment in time when he’d had to save Agent Macgyver, a similar bloody situation. Mel takes over instantly, even though she herself was shaking, blood running from a gash on her forearm. She’s trying to fix him, trying to keep him alive. 

Kaori had yet to wake up after being knocked out, Julius was trying to nurse her back to consciousness, Thomas looks over to see Julius watching Mel, worry filling his wide eyes. They were in the exfil van, they hadn’t brought any paramedics on sight because the op was in the middle of nowhere- they didn’t know how badly wounded everyone was there until on sight. Lucia is rushing through their resources, Meredith driving as Vince tries to help patch up Julius. Jasper was shaking in his arms, and he felt like he couldn’t hear anything. He doesn’t want to move, fearful that he’ll put Jasper in pain. He holds him the whole way to the next exfil location, where they would get properly treated. 

His head is spinning, and he’s willing Jasper to just keep breathing, he can feel Mel beside him, trying to patch him up, he’s not sure if she’s crying. He’s not really sure if he’s crying either, he’d lost agents before, sure. But it wasn’t the same. He doesn’t know if he can handle it- Jasper dying in his arms. 

 

\- Secondary Exfil Location, treatment is waiting - 

 

Sierra November is waiting outside in the cold, dreaded rain. Each Zeus member was in a medical tent: Mel and Julius in a bigger tent, getting their wounds patched up. Jasper was in surgery, Thomas leaning against the van, with Meredith beside him. Jaspers blonde stained his hands, and he wonders if that's the last source of his life that’ll remain for him. 

“He can’t die,” Thomas whispers. “I mean- how can someone who’s constantly giving death the middle finger just- and-and-and what could have gone so wrong that he- he’s…”

“He’s not dead.”

“Not yet. Mer we don’t know what’s going to happen to him.” 

She nods, and the silence ticks on. Mel and Julius join them for a bit, but Thomas and Meredith lead them back into the tents. The two walking slow, Mel pulling her wool poncho tighter around her body, her eyes hollow. Julius looked tired, his hand resting gently on Mel’s elbow. He whispers something to her in spanish, but it’s too low for Thomas to hear. He can’t quite make out what he says, but she looks devastated. 

“You needed stitches,” Thomas says to Mel and she nodded. 

“On my stomach, the wound wasn’t in a massive blood traffic area like Jasper though. I don’t…. I don’t know what happened. The guy caught him off guard- one hard blow to the lungs and Jasper was down, he was blindsided and the guy took advantage of it…” She looked remorseful, Julius helping her onto the bed. 

“It’s not your fault,” he says, Meredith and Thomas watching quietly. The two were worried they’d lost their other two team members, they deserved to grieve more than they ever would deserve it. Thomas glances back to the blood along his palms, Jasper’s blood, how one second he was awake, and gasping for the air and the next he was as still as corpse, his eyes rolled back, head drooping to the side, and his breath slowed so quickly. His body became  _ heavy  _ and Thomas feels his whole world go black all over again. 

“Miss Parks is seeping back into consciousness,” Kaori’s doctor announces as he walks in, Julius and Mel looking up, Thomas slowly being dragged back into reality. “She’s going to be okay, she has a concussion, but she’ll recover within a few weeks. I know she’s your tech analyst, but you’re going to have to keep her away from technology the entire way through.” 

“Thank you,” Mel says softly. “Can we see her?”

“She’s still sleeping, but it’s a normal REM sleep now. I’ll make sure a nurse comes to get you when she’s awake.”

Julius hesitates before stopping him. “What about Jasper? It’s been almost two hours since he went into Surgery.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ricardo, is it?”

“Yes.”

“I have no intel on what’s happening in his operation room. I’ve been with Kaori this whole time, but I’ll let them send a nurse when possible.”

 

Time drips slowly, another hour passes, then two. Thomas and Meredith move the two Zeus members to Kaori’s tent, and watch as Mel takes her into her arms, letting her rest her head along her chest. 

“Where’s Jas?” Kaori asks softly, looking to Julius, who’s leaning on Thomas. He had a gash on the back of his thigh, a bullet had been put into his side. 

“He’s been in surgery for hours now,” Julius admits, fidgeting with Thomas’ jacket zipper absentmindedly. Kaori looks to Mel, who nods. 

“But… I’m sure he’ll be okay,” Mel assures, with so little conviction in her voice, so little hope in her eyes. Kaori collapses against her, sobbing. “Kai, he’s gonna be okay,” Mel tries to assure, holding her tight. “He’s going to be _ okay. _ ” 

Thomas can hear Meredith swallow beside him, and it almost felt like they were intruding on the group, watching them decay in their darkest hour. Thomas looks to Meredith who gives a pressed smile. They both had tears in their eyes.  _ Was  _ he going to be okay? A bad feeling pits in Thomas’ stomach, and he doesn’t know what to do. He’s afraid that the next time he sees Jasper, he’ll be a corpse on a bloody operation table. That this time, he’ll really be dead, that he’ll be more blue than he is pale. The thought makes him sick, he wants to collapse. 

He hates to admit it, but he's started to consider Jasper a good friend. 

Exfil should never consider agents friends, this was probably why. “Maybe we should get going,” Lucia suggests, walking in. “We can switch for other agents if you’d like.”

“No,” Mel says, looking up from Kaori. “We want you to stay.”  

  
  


“He’s holding up,” the nurse says, which implies there was a point in which Jasper Sheriff was not holding up. “There’s a hospital 20 miles out, we’re going to have to take him there. He needs to recover in an ICU, not a tent in the middle of nowhere.”

Thomas feels rage well up inside of him. If they’d gotten there earlier, he wouldn’t have taken the hit so bad- if he’d just pulled him out of it earlier, it wouldn’t be so bad. His teammates must be thinking the same- he can see the guilt in all their eyes. But he can’t help but think that none of them would be hurt, or stitched, or going to the ICU if they had just gotten there a few minutes earlier. Than that guy wouldn’t have been able to catch Jasper off guard, to knock the air from his lungs, to maneuver Jasper’s knife not just away but into his side, deep enough to twist and then rip halfway across his torso, just before thomas was able to get him off. 

His eyes are hazy. “What do you mean holding up?” he asks, not realizing he’s cutting into Mel and Julius demanding the logistics of the hospital. “You were in there for 9 hours, trying to fix him. What happened?” 

The nurse seems sympathetic. “He had a lot of blood loss, and was dehydrating. He hasn’t eaten in hours, which meant he was a bit weaker than normal due to lack of nutrients. His left lung collapsed early into the surgery, but we recovered it quickly. Everything is recovered and functioning, but we’ll be certain once he’s safe in a real hospital.” 

Thomas nods, Meredith holding onto his arm reassuringly. She caresses his arm, watching him. She was starting to worry, this whole thing was killing Thomas inside, and she hated it. Hated to see him crumble under the weight of his worry. “We can help relocate the group,” Meredith offers. “But Lucia probably wants us home after that…” 

“Yeah,” Thomas says softly, nodding slowly. 

 

\- 2 weeks later, Thomas walking into the hospital Jasper was In - 

 

“I’m just  _ asking  _ why you called me to come out all this way for me to get here and not even let me into his room!” Oh Thomas knew that voice anywhere, even if he’s never heard Macgyver angry, he knew it was him. “Well, I find it a waste of your time to have me come all this way out-”

“Hey,” Thomas says gently, taking his arm. “Hey, come on-  _ no _ , come on, let’s go get coffee.”

“They won’t let me  _ in _ ,” Mac says desperately. 

“I know, he probably just got out of another surgery-”

“Another?”

“He hasn’t… been doing too well. The doctor said it’s a miracle he’s still alive really.” Thomas hates that he’s the one to tell Mac this, he knew he was on an op recently. 

“Oh.” he can see Mac’s heart drop to the pit of his stomach. “It was probably something smaller, but they don’t let anyone in for hours after. They say he needs quiet.”

“I wish I knew sooner- I just saw and-”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Thomas says. 

“Where’s Mel? Where’s Julius and Kaori? Are they okay?”

“Kaori has a mild concussion, she’s not really allowed to drive or look at screens, you know, usual concussion stuff. Mel got stitches in two places, Julius was shot a few times, but he’s okay now too.”

“So what happened to Jasper?” Mac asks almost angry.

“They couldn’t get to him- this one guy went for him full throttle. Then his surgery went kinda messy… they think his body is facing a lot of shock, and his mind is traumatized. Not a great mix…” 

“Is he waking up?” Mac asks.

“Only once, he woke up… that’s what Meredith said, she was here yesterday. He’s better… He’s doing a lot better.”

“How do you know that?”

“He doesn’t look so dead anymore…” Thomas whispers, and Mac softens, the anger melting away. “He’s too strong to die from a cut, we both know that’s what he’d say.”

Mac laughs, looking up at Thomas, his eyes brimmed with tears. He thinks if Angus Macgyver gives the illusion of having shimmering eyes normally, they definitely shimmered now, reflecting his heartbreak in their romantic sparkle. “Yeah he would,” he says, eyes drifting away from Thomas, defending himself. 

“He’s gonna be okay, Mac.”

“It’s not your fault,” Mac says. “It’s not anyone's… fault. Especially not yours.”

“Feels like it’s my fault… like I was too late.”

Mac shakes his head. “If you were too late, he’d be dead,” Mac whispers. “But, he’s not. He’s okay… because you saved him.” 

Thomas smiles, pulling Mac into a hug. They stand like that a long time. Basking in the others comfort. 

 

Meredith and him are on Merediths couch, watching something stupid and eating popcorn. 

“I know you’re like in love with Jasper-”

“I am not in love with him. He’s my friend, why is that so hard to grasp?”

“You’re definitely in love with him.” 

“I am not. He’s my friend.”

“You said that.” 

“Mac came today, they still had him in the waiting room when I left.” 

“Are you saying that to remind me they’re together? Because trust me, I haven’t forgotten. They’re still the talk of the town.” He gives her a look as if to say,  _ see _ . “I said you liked him, not that you had a chance.”

“He just almost died in my arms, is this really the appropriate time?”

She laughs. “It’s traumatizing. Death is usually never apart of the crush fantasy.”

“I don’t fantasize about him,” he says stubbornly. She hums, eyes narrowing a bit. “I don’t! That’s Mac’s job, not mine. Besides, he terrifies me too much for me to ever have a genuine relationship with him. We’re as friendly as an exfil agent should get with an operative. It ends there.”

“Which is why you keep going to the hospital?”

“He- he almost  _ died-  _ okay? Died! In my  _ arms _ . I can’t just pretend like oh hey, that never happened. B-because it did! It did happen. And i need to make sure he lives.”

Meredith looks sympathetic, leaning her head on his shoulder. “He’s going to be okay.”

“Everyone keeps saying that, I don’t know how I’m supposed to believe them.”

“Because Jasper Sheriff is the guy who demands people shoot him in the head, and they’re so afraid of him they don’t.”

“Yeah he is… But this guy wasn’t afraid.”

“He was… he saw all his friends go down, and he went for it. Eliminate the threat. He worked fast, you gotta give that to him.”

“Now he’s in federal prison,” Thomas notes. “God help him if Angus Macgyver ever gets near him, you should’ve seen the look in his eyes. I’d never seen him like that.”

“Love makes you do crazy things, I guess,” She says softly, squinting at Thomas. Thomas’ shoulders fall defeated.

“I’m in love with you only,” he tells her, and she rolls her eyes, throwing popcorn at him. “What? I am! I love you!” he repeats the sentiment over and over again squishing her in her arms, she groans.

“I take it back! Uncle! Uncle! Mercy! Chicken!” she yells, squirming in his arms, making Thomas laugh for the first time in weeks. 

 

\- some days later, Thomas has lost track of time - 

 

Mac is checking on the other members of Zeus, and going to clean up at Jasper’s house when Jasper wakes up. Thomas is there beside his bed, his teary eyes, brimmed red from exhaustion lighting up when Jasper groans softly, trying to sit up.

“Whoa, whoa, where you going?” Thomas whispers, reaching out to steady him. 

“Mm… dunno where I am,” He slurs, eyes fluttering, trying to make sense of the world around him. Thomas realizes he must not be fully focused. 

“Do you recognize me?” Thomas asks slowly.

“Timmy?”

“Yes!” Thomas says, laughing joyful. “God I’m so happy I could kiss you.”

“Don’t tell Mac, he wouldn’t like that,” Japser says, eyes still hazy. He squints, before resigning and closing his eyes. “Everything hurts, and I can’t see clearly.”

“Yeah, you’ve kind of had it rough lately. Probably natural.” 

“Yeah, probably.”

“Mac’s at your house, tidying up. That’s what he said he was doing anyways.”

“He get sick of fighting with the doctors?”

“I think if he knew how to perform operations, he would’ve just done it himself.”

Jasper exhales, his body relaxing, a soft smiling coming to his lips. He opens his eyes again. “Yeah… he told me once he did perform some type of….” he drifts off, taking a deep breath, his eyes shutting and not opening. Thomas wonders if he’s sleeping, but watches his nose scrunch up. 

“Are you in pain? I’ll get a nurse.”

“I don’t know. I was in pain before, just… kind of hurts more now.”

“I’ll get a nurse.”

“What happened? I don’t really… remember much.”

“He uhm… knocked you over, Mel said. You had your knife out, he must have took it from you, because I found you yelling under him, knife half way through your torso.”

“That’s gross,” Jasper says, trying to open his eyes again but Thomas takes his hand. 

“Hey, you need to rest.”

“I was in a coma. That’s a lot of rest.”

“No, it’s a lot of your body scrambling to get itself in order. And you had a helluva time trying to do that.”

“I did?” He sounds guilty.

“Yeah, but that’s a good thing. Your body knows how to fight for itself.”

He laughs. “It’s in my DNA i suppose.” his eyes are half open, and he seems struggling to stay awake. “Everything hurts,” he says again. 

“I’m going to get the nurse,” Thomas says again. “Are you okay with me leaving?”

“I’ll be okay.”

Thomas nods, not really sure about that. He’s watched Jasper suffer constantly, continuously, for two weeks. He takes the chance though, grabs a nurse for Jasper, and lets’ her assess him. Let’s her figure out what to do. He’s made to leave the room for a bit, and by then Mel is back. They’re both let in, but Mel takes over Jasper’s care instantly, as if she were his mother. She kisses his head, willing him not to say nothing, not to apologize.

“Mac’s worried sick.”

“Yeah, heard he almost took up a scalpel to fix me himself.”

She laughs. “Julius too… You got it pretty bad, and they couldn’t figure out what it was,” She whispers. Jasper takes a deep breath but winces. Thomas distinctly remembers going to see Jasper at his house, to tell him he’d been convicted of Murder, thinking that he’d never seen Jasper seem defeated. How it had made him want to cry, in a weird way. This was different. He wanted to sob, he wanted to hold Jasper, breathe  _ for  _ him. Wanted to take all his pain, let him open his eyes without it hurting.

“They said you could eat alone,” Mel said. “With our help. Nothing solid quite yet.”

Jasper nods, eyes shut again, letting Mel help him lay back down fully, he’s falling asleep again. Thomas could see it from how he sunk into the pillows, how his face relaxed. He doesn’t know how much blood Jasper sees in his dreams, or the pain he feels, how quickly his body feels like it’s on fire, Jasper can’t seem to vocalize any of it. But Thomas is the only one there to grab him and calm him down in his sleep that night. Mel was in the shower, and well, the doors were stupidly thick. He watches her calm him down later, and she’s not scared the way he was, she was scared in an empty, tired sort of way.

“He used to have bad dreams a lot,” She explains. 

“Oh.”

Thomas discovers that Jasper is a very fitful sleeper, and it breaks his heart. That he seems so weak, so broken. He seemed so fragile, Thomas was almost afraid he’d break him when Jasper fell asleep in his arms. He lets him sleep there, because he seems comfortable, because it seems to put his mind at ease to be held by someone. 

It’d never occurred to him before how much someone like Jasper Sheriff might need someone to make him feel safe. He always seemed like a  _ god _ , like nothing could destroy him. He was perfect, always. 

“I was lucky for too long,” Jasper admits later. “Life giving me what I deserve, I guess.”

“You don’t deserve this,” Thomas says. “You don’t deserve to be suffering in a hospital bed, when that bastard just got thrown into prison.”

“Prison is worse than a hospital bed.” 

“Maybe. But doesn’t mean you  _ deserve  _ this. Because you don’t… all you do is save people by the dozens. You deserve to be okay, you deserve to be happy.”

Jasper laughs, leaning his head against his shoulder. Thomas notes that Jasper was a lot thinner, he had dark circles under his eyes. He was a bit shaky, all the time, and his skin was balmy, feverish. His eyes were hazy, and he had take really deep breaths sometimes, he like couldn’t breathe properly without consciously taking deep breaths. 

 

“I just don’t see the purpose of assigning him-”

“Mr. Macgyver, I understand that he’s your significant other-”

“What does that have to do with  _ anything _ ?” 

“Let me rephrase-”

“I don’t know what that has to-”

“You’re concerned for him, that’s what I meant, that’s all!”

Thomas holds the ice cream container closer to Jasper, who’s sucking on his spoon a bit, before he digs it back in, eating slowly, squinting at Mac. “Mac, sugar-”

“Not right now, Babe- Are you listening to me? There are other, less dangerous drugs that-”

“Which are not available to us right now-”

“Then I can make them.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m a scientist, I have a lab-”

“That’s  _ dangerous _ .”

“Oh yeah, but a percocet is really the height of safety, huh?”

“It’s not a dosage that wouldn’t get him  _ hooked _ -”

“I don’t really care. There’s better options for him-”

“Mac,  _ baby _ ,” Jasper calls, Mac turning to him to see if he was okay. “When did you become an MD? No- no, drop it. Leave the room, let the doctor talk to me- you know? The functioning patient.”

“You’ve been up for not even a day, and you’re running a high fever and you’re hardly stomaching anything-”

“Then stop yelling at him, let him assign me what he feels best,” Jasper says. “Or let him talk to Thomas.”

“I have the same complaints, I won’t do any better,” Thomas says, taking another spoonful of the strawberry ice cream he bought them. 

“What am I keeping you here for then?” 

“Ice cream?”

Jasper sighs. “I need a nap.”

“Naps are good,” the doctor said. “How about I come back when your older sister is here. She is your sister right? Millenium?” 

“Yes she is. She’ll handle this a lot better, I promise.”

“Sure, when will she be in?”

“Tomorrow morning,” he promises. 

“We’re going to get you taken in for testing by tonight-”

“Testing for what?”

“Blood tests, reflex tests, see how much physical therapy he’ll need. I was informed you have a very rigorous job?” 

“Yes,” Jasper says.

“Yeah, you can’t do that. You’ll be in a wheel chair if you really have to get out of bed. Otherwise I’m going to have you mandatory bed rest.” 

“What?”

“Your lungs have collapsed twice in the almost three weeks we’ve had you, you’ve been running fevers, having episodes. We can’t risk you killing yourself by pushing you to recovery too quickly.”

Jasper takes a deep breath but nods. “The medicine will help?”

“Yes. If you want, your partner can help you shower, and redress your wounds. You have a lot of bruising that popped up on your sides when we pulled you into your last surgery, we’re not sure what it’s from, they have to check on that too later tonight.”

“Oh… I’ve never been hurt this bad.”

“Mind if I ask what happened to begin with?”

Jasper looks to Mac, his mouth opens but nothing comes out.

“We’re in law enforcement, he got caught with a bad perp,” Mac says, lying smoothly. The doctor nods.

“Gang member?”

“Something like that. He’s okay now though,” Mac says. “He’ll be okay?”

“Yes, he’s very strong, he’ll be just fine. A nurse should be in with something to help reduce his fever. We have to keep all the IV’s and nutrient valves in. If he starts to wheeze, call a nurse. We’ve revived his lungs twice, and they’ve been stable for over a week now, but… just in case.” 

“Are you going to be checking for fluid, or any inflammation?” Thomas asks the doctor and the doctor nods.

“Of course. His whole upper body really took a beating, and his initial surgery was so full of complications that we need to give him a very thorough and probably long follow up tonight.” 

“What was my last surgery for?” Jasper asks. “Nobody’s really… told me anything about what’s been going on with me.”

The doctor sighs. “A lot happened with you, I wouldn’t be surprised if your family had trouble recounting it all.”

“What does that mean?”

“Other than the collapsed lungs, your body didn’t react well to the stitches, you’ve had constant pain episodes, your heart gave out once from an episode. Last surgery we gave you was to remove the tube for your lung, we wanted to ensure that it didn’t collapse again, so we placed a tube to help you. We suspect the collapse was from the wound you incurred from you… bad perp. It’s follows your left rib, midway to the diaphragm. It’s a miracle you didn’t die from blood loss.”

Thomas thinks for a moment that Jasper  _ had  _ almost died, in his arms, he doesn’t really feel like eating anymore. Or being near Jasper, who very easily could be dead, no thanks to him anyways. 

“Well, that’s Thomas’ doing. He did save me after all,” Jasper says proudly. The doctor laughs.

“I’ll see you tomorrow with your results.”

“Sure.”

 

\- Jasper is Finally Home, It’s been just over a Month, He’s not doing great - 

 

“The doctor said you can’t go to work, or really leave the bed more than to use the bathroom,” Mac says, helping Jasper into the bed, having just helped him shower and change into warm clothes. 

“Who’s going to cook?”

“Thomas. He’s insisted on staying the week. And no sex, or alcohol- or smoking. Ever again. Smoking increases the likelihood of a collapsed lung.”

“I don’t even smoke that often.”

“Well now you can’t smoke ever again.”

“Fine. You said Thomas is staying the week?”

“Yeah.”

“Clean the fridge out with him and-”

“Relax-”

“Do you know where the market is?”

“Yes. I know exactly the park and the location, and where all your reusable bags are, and yes we’ve been feeding the cats, and no you can’t have any of them come inside.”

“Why not? Let Mitzy and Whiskey in, they love to cuddle-”

“Lay down,” Mac coaxes, trying to get Jasper to just relax for a minute. He hasn’t been calm since the medicine wore off- he didn’t realize how heavily it was mellowing him out. No wonder Jasper hadn’t tried to sneak out of his hospital bed after they took out the IV’s. “Please?” He asks again, gently nudging Jasper to lay on his back, and tucking him in. “Don’t make me swaddle you. I’ll pick up all your medication too, from the local pharmacy-”

“Please don’t say anything to Dolores, she’s a gossip, and once she knows that I’m badly injured, the whole town will know and there will be a congregation here by morning.”

“That’s not so bad-”

“Mac?” They both look to the door.

“That’s probably Thomas. Stay put.”

“Fine, I’m not moving I swear.” 

Thomas is shutting the door, two cats with the tags  _ mitzy _ and _ whiskey  _ on having followed him in. “Uh… they wouldn’t stay outside,” Thomas says, soft, his voice quaking nervously. Mac sighs.

“Yeah okay fine,” he says the cats meandering to the room. 

They both just nod, before Mac turns to Thomas. “We have chores to do, or else he might lose his mind. I’m debating if only one of us should go out in the off chance he decides to try and get up and walk around.”

“Well… what do we have to do?”

“Grocery shopping- which I should definitely do. He’s taught me exactly how to shop for him, because he said when we’re married I can’t just go to whole foods-”

“What’s wrong with Whole Foods?”

Mac shrugs. “That’s not a conversation I want to have-”

The door opens and Kaori walks in with her work clothes on. She was dressed extra nice. “Hi guys,” She says softly. “Where’s Jasper? Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s settled into bed, everything is fine Kaori.”

She nods, smiling. “Good. were you leaving?”

“He wants us to clean the fridge and get groceries, and i have to grab his prescriptions.” 

“Well then let’s get started.” 

 

Thomas is spending more time than he ever expected with Jasper Sheriff. Who between the drugs, and his own bubbly personality, is a riot and a half. He insists on painting, only to paint on Mac and Thomas. He covers them in watercolor and acrylic paint, and tells them crazy stories. 

His laugh is bright, and beautiful. It’s full of more life than Thomas ever knew existed. He just sort of wants to be Jaspers best friend, he’s so perplexed, by this weird version of Jasper he didn’t really know existed. Maybe he’s idealizing him. Maybe it’s because Jasper is on a lot of medicine, he doesn’t really know what he’s doing or saying. But there were no barriers, no walls. 

“You know, I used to hate the color pink,” Jasper tells him on Wednesday night, and Thomas laughs, trying to change his guaze.

“Stop moving.”

“All I do is sit still or stand still- I’m restless. I need to go… run or something. Ugh. I hate running. Stupid Mac, that’s his fault.”

“Why?”

“He loves running. Like a psychopath.”

“You shouldn’t date a psychopath.”

“No… but I am.” He squints at Thomas and Thomas squints back. 

“I have a hot gay friend if you ever need one,” Thomas offers.

“Are you referring to yourself.”

“I’m not gay. I’m… I don’t know, but I’m not gay.”

“You need a date- I’m gonna get you a date.”

“With who?” Thomas asks, and Jasper squints.

“Riley. She needs a hot guy in her life. A hot guy who isn’t weirdly attached to his mom.”

“What?”

“Her ex boyfriend- ugh.  _ That _ guy… that guy was weirdly attached to his mom.”

Thomas laughs. “Riley is Mac’s friend right?”

He nods. “If I wasn’t gay, I’d totally date her.”

“Which means she’s a prime recommendation for me.”

Jasper nods. “You should be honored.”

“Dully noted. Okay,” he says, taping the gauze down. “You’re all fixed.”

Jasper laughs, mostly because he took the medicine that makes him spacey. “Yayyy, take me to bed now-” he gasps at his own comment. “That’s  _ dirty _ ! Don’t tell Mac.”

“I promise, space cadette, now come on let’s get you to bed.” 

 

\- Towards the End of the Week - 

 

Jasper stands in the bathroom, the phone on the sink counter, on speaker. Marnie Laurent from the all woman’s op team on the other end, saying she’d heard about his health. 

“I’m alright,” he insists in french, twisting in the mirror to look at the awful stitches that he has to dress again, then twists to look at the bruising up his right side. It wasn’t healing very quickly, but the bombastic purple had become a rotten blue green, tainting his skin ugly. He takes a deep breath and it still hurts a little. “It was just a small incision, I just… went into shock. That’s what they said.” If a small incision is half his torso, then sure. He doesn’t want people to worry, but of course, the whole town has showed to his house with gifts because Dolores figured out pretty quickly that 6 prescriptions meant he was pretty hurt. 

“You’re on bed rest.”

“I stress myself out, they just want me to fully recover before pushing myself again. That’s all.”

 

His voice is distant, even if the bathroom is only a few feet from where Thomas was trying to arrange the gift baskets in the living room. Guilt was widdling at his core- he might have overheard a conversation he wasn’t supposed to hear last night, when he’d left his bedroom door cracked open.

Jasper had been feverish and maybe delirious.  _ I don’t deserve you  _ He kept repeating to Mac, who bless him, had an eternal patience.  _ I’m an awful person, All I do is drag people into trouble  _ he’d insisted.  _ You shouldn’t even have to take care of me- i don’t need to be taken care of- my parents didn’t raise me to be weak. And this is a weakness, I’m being weak, aren’t I? I should be fine. I have to be fine- does he know? Did anyone tell my dad? He’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill you. What am I gonna do? What am I gonna say?  _

To which, Mac had gently reminded Jasper,  _ you haven’t spoken to your dad in years.  _ All Thomas can think is Jasper repeating  _ I’m awful, I’m awful, I’m awful.  _ He doesn’t really know what transpired, but he remembers bits of Jasper begging Mac to find someone better- or maybe to go back home, insisting he was a bad person. That he was a burden. That he was too cold. Too unkind. Too heartless. That Mac should hate him for letting the op get so out of hand, for almost dying. He remembers Mac crying later, he had tried to comfort him, but Mac told him to go to bed. That he was fine. 

_ I just hate seeing him this way,  _ he’d told Thomas.  Thomas doesn’t know if anyone had ever been this heartbroken over him- Thomas doesn’t know if he’d ever been this heartbroken for someone else. He feels guilty, because he  _ is  _ scared of Jasper Sheriff, scared because he knows what cruelty he’s capable of. Guilty because he knows under the facade is an amazing person. Guilty because he can’t do anything or say anything that would mend Jaspers heart in any way. Guilty because he doesn’t know who Jasper Sheriff really is, why he hasn’t called his father in years, why he thinks he can’t rely on anyone. 

“You okay?” Jasper asks, using the can the doctor gave him to use in the house. (And only the house, the doctor had reminded him. Not more than 30 minutes of standing at a time, with hours of space in between. It made him a little miserable.) He was still thin, and a bit hollow.

“I’m fine, are you?”

Jasper seems to falter a bit. “Yeah.”

“Why do you feel so ashamed to tell people you’re hurt?” Thomas finds himself asking suddenly, a surge of confidence taking him by the throat. “You tell everyone who calls you that you’re fine, that it’s nothing but you’re not fine. You’re really sick, and you’re not going to be doing a lot of hard work for a long time. You really… you really were hurt, Jasper. Why is that a big deal?”

Jasper seems to shut down, he sits on the couch furthest from Thomas. “I’m not… I don’t take being weak very well.”

“I can see that.”

“I owe you a lot for coming to help me.”

“You almost died on my watch. I would never leave you for dead.”

“Thank you, Thomas-”

“Don’t tell me that I didn’t have to or that you’re guilty I had to save you. That’s what we do in our job-”

“It’s your job to get us out of those situations and-”

“I did it because you’re my friend.”

“We’re not friends.”

“Oh sure. You just call me nicknames and bake me pies when you think I was hurt real bad in an exfil situation, and let me stay in your house for a week to take care of you because that’s what not-friends do.”

Jasper is quiet, fidgeting. “I just… I don’t trust a lot of people to come into my life- I don’t know why you stayed-”

“We’re friends.”

“Or you just feel bad.”

“Friends,” Thomas repeats. “Say it with me. We’re  _ friends. _ ”

Jasper scoffs.

“Say it!” 

“I don’t-”

“Friends.”

“Fine, we’re friends,” Jasper says with a bit of a smile and Thomas laughs.

“Was that so hard?”

“Seriously?”

“You practically choked getting there, I just want to know if it was worth all that damn trouble-”

“No, okay. It wasn’t hard. We’re friends, are you happy now Thomas?”

“Sure, are you happy?”

“Yeah… I just… hate being on bed rest.”

“I remember that the last time you were on bedrest.”

Jasper nods, and Thomas moves so he’s kneeling in front of Jasper.

“You’re a good person… I know maybe you don’t…. Think that about yourself, because you’re a real hardass about your job, but you go out there, save people by the dozen, put your life out on the line for them… no matter what. No matter who they are, what country they’re from, what they’ve been through- you do it. And you know, I think that makes you a good person.. If my opinion matters.”

“Your opinion does matter, it matters to me Thomas. And thank you…” he says softly, smiling. “Did Mac feed the cats?”

“Yes. Also I think he’s getting attached to Whiskey.”

Jasper laughs. “I knew he’d end up loving my cats.”

“Good people don’t adopt all the cats in town so they don’t go to the pound.”

“Okay, I get it.”

“Are you sure? I’m on a compliment roll.” 

Jasper laughs. “No… Hey, where did Mac go?”

“He told me not to tell you.”

“He went to my favorite coffee place with Mel because I can’t go on our coffee date, didn’t he?”

“So… did you want lunch?”

“Thomas!”

“I-I’m gonna go make lunch. How’s a fettuccini sound?” He gets up, taking Jasper’s cane so he can’t follow him. Jasper throws a pillow at him and he laughs. 

Maybe Jasper had a hard time accepting that he was a good person, or that he was worth while, but Thomas is sure there’s no one quite like him. (This is turning out to be an unexpectedly wonderful friendship- who knew almost dying brought people so close together instead of apart? Not that Thomas minded, after all). 

“Can I atleast have my phone to call him?” Jasper calls. 

“You have an unhealthy obsession,” Thomas decides.

“You would think so you’re in love with me.”

“I don’t think you’re getting lunch anymore.”

“It’s true! You are!”

Thomas sighs. Okay, maybe he  _ did  _ mind. “I take it back, we’re not friends!”


End file.
